


The Hothouse

by Happy_Cow



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Animal Transformation, Ben Solo has two penises, Ben Solo has two tongues, Ben is also a naga, Double Penetration in One Hole, Exhibitionism, F/M, Heavy Petting, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Monsterfucking, Monsters, Naga Rey, Noncon maybe, Poor Rey (Star Wars), Possessive Ben Solo, Rey transforms into a naga, Zoo, dubcon, noncon, reptile puns, tagging just in case
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:55:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26825497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Happy_Cow/pseuds/Happy_Cow
Summary: After a luke-warm night out clubbing, Rey wakes up and finds herself transformed into a horrible, hideous monster. While the authorities figure it out, she’s placed ‘’temporarily’’ into a zoo, where she must combat the amorous advances of the resident male...
Relationships: Mention of Rose/Finn - Relationship, Minor Finn/Poe Dameron, Minor Rose/Armitage Hux, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 79
Kudos: 249





	1. What Color are Ben's Eyes?

**Author's Note:**

> yessss  
> I wishshsh i couldve possssted this lasssst week but wasss bussssy writing ouo  
> I don't know if thissss will have outright noncon yet tho

_What a weird night..._

Rey thought to herself, as she stared up at the ceiling fan. It whirled around slowly, circulating stale air around the room. Rey smacked her lips and tasted the insides of her mouth, while her thoughts slithered around her brain.

Rose was still sour on Poe turning Finn gay, so Rey decided to take her out clubbing... Rose ran into some hot, bitchy redhead, but small-breasted Rey had no such luck... _sad_... There was a creepy old man in a gold bathrobe, who couldn’t catch a hint... Rey wasn’t looking for a sugar daddy, or sugar grandpa, but this guy just wouldn’t leave her alone... She drank a lot of Jell-O shots, but one of them tasted weird — _oh_.

 _Oh shit,_ she realized. It could’ve been a bad Jell-O shot.

Rey felt a lightbulb go off inside her head, and then cringed as it shattered: _thinking_ hurt. So _Rey no think_ , she decided. That was the normal way to spend a Saturday morning. Delicately, she edged her arms to the sides of her head, wincing at the sticky prickly sensation of her own skin. She tried to shift her legs in a crossed-T position, but felt some sort of _resistance_. Her legs.

Rey opened one eye and glanced down at her body. Forgetting her headache, she bolted upright. Her legs.

She screamed.

.

It took two tries to call 9-1-1, because the first dispatcher hung up. When the first responders kicked down her door, they were confused at first because they were prepared to treat a burn victim, not... whatever _this_ was. 

The trip to the hospital was incredible — the entire apartment heard her scream, and they came out to watch as Rey was carried out by the two baffled first responders. A whole panel of doctors came to stare at her some more when she was wheeled in, so they could poke at her fucked up legs. Rey felt that she should warrant more urgency — this was a _medical conundrum_ , like in the hospital serials on tv — except she wasn’t _actively_ dying. Rey sure _felt_ like she was dying, at least figuratively.

The doctors could come to no agreement, and Rey’s medical insurance ran out in the span of days. Her own savings were going to be wiped out. Although she would live, she couldn’t imagine working in her condition, or even returning to her apartment, or _driving_. The medical staff at the hospital kept away from her and muttered about how her rapid transformation was _frightening_ the residents; they didn’t even know if it was _contagious_. It seemed that there was nothing to be done for her. 

The most practical solution that anyone could come up with, was to transfer Rey to an institution more suited to her condition. This was the most hopeful news she received in days.

Rey blinked away tears, clutching helplessly at the handles of the gurney she had been installed in for an entire week. “Where are you sending me off to?” she asked, imagining a state-of-the-art hospital, with cutting edge technology.

She was told, as _gently_ as nurse Mitaka could manage, that she was going to live with _Big Ben_.

To Rey, ‘ _Big Ben’_ referred to the large clock tower in London, England. So at first Rey thought she was going to be going to the UK, to the country of her birth, and she was absolutely _delighted_. 

But nurse Mitaka was _not_ referring to the clock tower in London, England. Rey was _not_ going to Great Britain, at all; who would pay for the plane ticket? The hospital? Her non-existent insurance? How would she even fit inside a plane, asides from a large animal crate? She was going fifty miles upstate, to a publicly funded nonprofit for the conservation of—... _animals_.

“You’re sending me to the _zoo_?” Rey chirped. Her eyes unfocused for a moment, and then she collected herself (her altered pupils narrowing into slits, internally scaring poor nurse Mitaka and the attending resident). Okay. Okay, this was _fine_ , she thought. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. She wiped at her strange eyes, trying in vain to think positively.

.

After a week had passed, it seemed that her dramatic transformation had slowed to a stop. So on Tuesday, the hospital deemed it safe to transport her to her _temporary_ home. Rey clung tightly to that word: _temporary_. Any minute, she would have her legs back; perhaps one day she would wake up in her new bed, with two human legs, and not this hideous, scaly _trunk_ she’d been cursed with. They needed to pile her into the back of a windowless van, where she slid around helplessly on the floor because she couldn’t fit into the seat...

She still wore her pajama shirt, which she woke up in that fateful Saturday morning. Nobody had thought to ask if she would like new clothes, or even a bra. Then again, she thought ruefully, half of her existing wardrobe would have to be donated — she couldn’t dream of fitting her bottom half into a pair of jeans... Perhaps the zoo would give her more shirts, she thought sadly. 

.

“This must be some sort of mistake,” she said. 

She had imagined some sort of motel room, at least. Even the dingiest thing: like a bed and a shower, and black molding in between the tiles. Rey could stomach _The Palpatine Reptile House_ and the big, stony Komodo dragon on the roof of the building. She blithely accepted being wheeled out of the back of the van, on a large cart, while small nosy children gawked at her through the metal fence. But _this_ was the final straw.

Once she was taken through the staff entrance of the reptile house, they talked her off the cart and dumped her into a warm, almost tropical enclosure. Then they took the cart and closed the staff entrance behind them. Rey sat in the dirt, enjoying the first touch of sunlight on her new body and wondering when the nice men would come back. At the far end of the enclosure was a long, dusty window, flanked by concrete. People moved behind it. Once again, she saw those two nosy little children staring open-mouthed at her.

“Oh my god,” she said aloud. She had been terribly bamboozled. 

Rey dragged herself to the staff entrance, which was a padlocked wire door, and she grabbed it and rattled it on its hinges. “Hello!?” she screamed. “Please let me out! I’m not — I don’t belong here,” she sobbed. She looked around and looked upwards, searching for escape. 

This was a hexagonal enclosure, made of concrete; but sunlight filtered through the leaves of the tall, thick trees at the center. It was incredibly, _luxuriously_ hot. She fanned herself with her shirt, noticing the sweat accumulating in her chest and armpits. She looked at the window, and crawled towards it — the floor was littered with crunched up leaves that felt soft on her body.

The older child opened his mouth in a scream and ran away, but the little girl began hopping up and down. There were not many visitors to the reptile house on a Tuesday morning, it seemed. For what it was worth, Rey placed her hands on the glass, and looked over the head of the girl, trying to catch eyes with any parents — someone who could actually _help_ her. She looked inside the corridor of _The Palpatine Reptile House_ and realized that, yes, she was actually on display.

The girl’s mother appeared from the right and locked eyes with Rey. Rey waved and said, “Please help me,” but the mother only ran up to grab her daughter before moving out of view of the window. Rey’s spirits sank deeper. Her hands dragged down the dusty window.

She stared out the window, hoping in vain to see anymore visitors. She wondered if Rose or Finn or Poe were told that she would be here. Maybe they were already on their way here, to break her out of this prison? Rey squinted out of the window, seeing writing on large blocks on the wall, to the corridor leading right where the mother and the girl went. 

_Where is Big Ben?_ One line read.

_What does Big Ben eat?_ read another. 

_How long does Big Ben sleep_?

Rey blinked slowly, before pushing herself away from the window. She had never been taken to the zoo, as a child. In college, Finn took her to see the Porgs, and there were so many small children running around the Porg Playpen, with educational flaps and slides. What do Porgs eat? Do Porgs fly? _Where do Porgs live_...

Rey turned around slowly, and wondered where _Big Ben_ lived.

Her eyes darted around the enclosure. Oh, she remembered what nurse Mitaka said. Now she wished she asked exactly what Big Ben _was_. With her luck, he would be a big, disgusting, poisonous monster that spits venom. 

She wished she could look at the informational plaque right below the enclosure window, but it wasn’t made for the creature _inside_ to read. Rey looked at the forest litter, looking for any signs of movement. Then she pulled her long, grey body close to her, still looking at the floor. _This thing is called Big Ben, right? If it’s so big, how come I can’t see it_ , she thought, irritated.

Then she blinked. Slowly, she let her eyes scroll upwards. The thick trees were gnarled, and chopped off at the top, so they were forced to grow outwards instead of upwards. Plenty of long, thick branches, like the kind that Rey imagined jaguars sit on. The back of her neck prickled; she realized that she herself was being watched, and there was no one outside of the viewing window.

Her eyes adjusted to the fine detail of the leaves, and the shadows thrown out beneath the foliage. Rey let her jaw fall open. On one of the topmost branches, Rey caught the glimpse of a yellow-ish eye. His dark hair confused her vision, but she could make out thick, pale arms, and the swell of a back. As a casual as can be, it looked like a man resting his face in his arms, watching her.

“Hello?” she said, tentatively. Rey was more than hesitant of strangers, especially after what she’d been through. There was also the matter that she didn’t even know that he was _in_ here, with her, until now. But he didn’t... _look_ scared, or _repulsed_ by her, at least. 

“Are you B...” She was about to ask if he was _Big_ Ben. “Are you Ben...jamin?” she asked, plaintively. She reached out her arms and dragged herself clumsily through the leaf litter, trying to get closer to his tree. Hopefully someone would give her a clean shirt, and soon... 

“My name is, Rey,” she said, glancing up at him to make sure he was still there. “They put me in here, because of _this_ —.” She gestured to what replaced her legs. “ _This_ , _thing_ ,” she choked. Now that she said it aloud, she felt a rush of fear and humiliation. She clutched at her face, tears welling up in her eyes. She couldn’t work, couldn’t drive, couldn’t return home. Running was now impossible, and going to the bathroom... She shuddered.

When she raised her eyes, she realized that Ben was just above her, looking down from his perch. His ivory skin contrasted with his hair, and his eyes. This close, she could make out the thickness of his lips; he had a strong patrician’s nose. His forearms rested on top of the branch, revealing the width of his shoulders and the size of his biceps... Rey swallowed, realizing how attractive this man was. Then she shook her head, internally furious — there was no way _that_ was going to happen. She was definitely never having sex again, not with _this_ body.

Frowning, Rey allowed her eyes to trail lower. The branch obscured most of him, but then Rey looked towards the trunk of the tree. 

Rey fumbled backwards. “Oh,” she mumbled. _Big_ Ben. _Long_ Ben, more like. Rey was pretty long, but not like _that_. Then she wondered how she could’ve missed him. His silence and the coloring of his scales hid him well. “Wow,” she said. “ _Big_ Ben. Alright.” She put her hands together and glanced up at him. She was waiting for him to say something, _anything_ , but he hadn’t moved an inch. He just kept staring at her. The back of her neck prickled.

“Okay,” she sniffled. “Okay...” Slowly she backed out from underneath the trees and went to the side of the concrete enclosure. Clumsily, she dragged herself to the staff entrance, where she would wait until somebody comes out. Ben could stay in the trees, and Rey would wait on the ground; hopefully, they would both stay out of each other’s business. 

.

A zookeeper came later in the day, and through the wire door he asked what she would like to eat from the commissary. Frowning, Rey ordered a burger and French fries. She waited for Ben to order something too, but the zookeeper disappeared. Rude.

What felt like an hour later, _another_ even _younger_ zookeeper returned, carrying a tray of food. “I just intern here,” he said quickly. “Here’s your lunch. Please don’t come out.”

He was shaking so bad that Rey feared he would throw her carton of French fries onto the ground, so she held up her hands and backed farther away from the door, before he could wrestle the padlock open. 

“Okay, that’s fine,” she said through gritted teeth. Then when her tray of food was safely on the ground, and the door shut, she sucked in a breath. Plaintively, she tugged at the hem of her dusty, stained Star Wars shirt. “Could you please be a dear, and _please_ and get me a clean shirt?”

The boy froze, like a deer caught in headlights. Rey gave her best puppy dog eyes, completely unaware of the change in her pupils, among other things. Her lower lip trembled. “Please? Just any spare shirt... I think I’ve been wearing this one for a week.”

His shoulders slackened, and his head tilted to one side. “A... shirt...” he repeated, his previous fear forgotten. “A shirt.” Without a word, he stumbled back towards the entrance to the reptile house. Rey stared after him, a little befuddled. Puppy dog eyes _never_ worked for her, or else she would’ve been adopted out of the foster care system. Weird.

Rey grabbed her tray and pulled it safely away from the door. Then she wished she had the foresight to order ketchup. Beggars couldn’t be choosers, she figured. When she peeled off the foil wrapper and bit into the burger, she _really_ wished she ordered that ketchup. The texture of the beef was like tissue paper. To add insult to injury, the French fries were _limp_.

That lunch was so bad, that she paid no attention to her immediate surroundings. A hand settled on her shoulder, making her jump. She spun around.

If Ben looked big in the tree, he was _huge_ directly in front of her. Rey scrolled her eyes down his barrel chest, and then she sagged with something between relief and pity. At least his penis wasn’t out; seeing Big Ben’s penis would’ve _really_ ruined her first day at the zoo. 

Rey swallowed the burger that was in her mouth and said, _Hello_. She looked to the staff’s wire door. “I think he’s going to come back with a shirt for me... in the next century.” Rey held up her half-eaten burger and offered it to him. “You can have the rest of this, but I warn you: it’s not very good. If you order something next, I want half of it.”

Rey wondered how she could’ve thought his eyes were gold; up close, his eyes looked dark, almost pitch-black. She wondered why she wasn’t terrified right now, but she figured that she herself was some kind of freak. Also Ben was kinda hot. He glanced at her and then at the burger. His nostrils flared, and his brow crinkled dubiously. He sat up — the forest litter crackled as the rest of his body tensed. Ben opened his mouth and took a _nibble_ of the burger.

Rey giggled. “It’s not _that_ bad,” she chided him, before taking a bite herself. It was just bland and cold; it would probably taste _incredible_ if she were honestly starving and not just hungry. She offered him a French fry, but he wouldn’t eat that at all. His mouth folded in distaste while he watched her finish her lunch; it was like he was upset that she was even eating this stuff, but she couldn’t figure out why. Maybe he was a health nut. 

Footsteps sounded outside. Suddenly, the wire door to the Reptile House crashed open. Just as Rey turned her head, she felt something wrap around her. The zookeeper intern, flushed in the face, waved a white shirt like a flag of surrender. He stumbled towards them. Then the plane of Ben’s shoulders reared in front of Rey’s eyes, and she heard a hissing sound. The boy paused, his round face turning as pale as a sheet. He dropped the clean shirt to the ground and ran back to the safety of the reptile house, the door clanging behind him. This happened in less time than it took for you to read it.

Rey was still clutching her crumpled ball of hamburger foil, still utterly stunned. She could feel something rub against her body, and she looked down. Her grey... _tail_ had gathered beneath her while she ate. And now, all around her, there circled a length of similar tail, only thicker and pitch-black. She followed it with her eyes, and found herself staring at Ben’s back. He turned and looked at her from his peripheral, his pupil narrowed to a slit.

_What color are Big Ben’s eyes?_

_Answer: Big Ben’s eyes are gold._


	2. Panic at the Reptile House

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sssorry for the wait~~

Early in the morning, Rey changed into her new shirt, so that she wouldn’t accidentally flash any visitors inside The Palpatine Reptile House. It was a size too large, so it sometimes slipped down her shoulders, but at least it was relatively clean. Ben made some weird noises when she put it on, but he didn’t bother to come down from his tree. Only when the sun came up, did Rey see that there was a _Porg_ on the shirt. _Fantastic_ , she thought, glaring down at that pudgy little bird. The kids were going to _love_ this.

Ben had spooked the staff so much, that the next intern they sent just threw a bunch of bananas into the enclosure, locked the wire door, and ran back into the building. Maybe the staff door was supposed to stay open.

Dejectedly, Rey slithered up to the bunch of bananas and brushed off all the sand. “Ben! Break-oh.” Ben was already hovering down from the treetops; with the rest of his body wrapped around a branch, his torso lowered down to her. 

Rey wished that she could climb trees, but the truth was she didn’t know how. Ben was bigger than her, but he was also fucking ripped. Each muscle stood out distinctly on his chest and his arms. By contrast, Rey felt that it was probably safer for her to be a forest-floor snake; that way she wouldn’t fall out of trees and break her remaining limbs. Ben would probably unhinge his jaw and _eat_ her after that: ‘survival of the fittest’ and all that. Besides, her main concern was getting better and escaping the zoo, not adapting to it.

His shoulder-length hair fell over his amber eyes. Rey brushed them to the sides of his face, but they just fell back in place. “You need a haircut,” Rey muttered. Self-consciously, she threaded her fingers through her own brown hair, and found tangles. “ _I_ need a comb...” They both needed to go to a groomer. Rey heaved a sigh and picked up the most bruised banana, the one that slammed into the ground when the intern threw it. Ben reached out and pinched the sleeve of her shirt, between his thumb and forefinger. 

“Ba-na-na,” Rey said slowly. She peeled it and gestured at her mouth. Ben watched attentively, through his long bangs. He looked like a rock star, at least from the waist-up. Rey opened her mouth and pushed the banana through the o of her lips. 

Her eyes flickered to the lower half of his torso; yesterday, she was pretty happy that she didn’t see his penis. But now she wondered what he _did_ have. Below his hard, chiseled abs, his flesh darkened with a belt of miniature scales. Then his scales grew thick and glossy, and they overlapped against each other like armor plating. Some of these were shaped differently than the others, and they were located about where his crotch would have been if he were human and he had legs. So maybe _that_ was where his penis came out of? 

Rey was a lot... _smoother_ , down there. Everywhere. Her scales were small and bumpy, and they didn’t overlap except on the sides. Her own private parts were folded _somewhere_ inside of her, between what were once her thighs. _That_ was never getting touched again, but — oh _fuck_ she hit the back of her throat. Rey coughed and yanked the banana out to a more manageable length, where it broke off in her mouth. Ashamed of herself, Rey finished her throatful and peeled open another, before offering it to Ben. 

When Ben took a bite, she saw something strange. The shape of the tip of his tongue looked off, kind of. Ben looked mildly displeased at the taste of fruit, so Rey tried to get him to open his mouth again by rubbing his chin. That worked with Poe’s dog, BB. “Lemme see your tongue,” she cooed. “I just wanna know if you’re sick.” If it was something serious, like an infection, then she should let the staff know. Rey was going to be a reptile expert when this was over. 

Rey opened her own mouth, and went, _aaah_. Then she put her thumb on his bottom lip and tugged down. The coloring looked... normal. Pink. A neat line ran down the middle, bisecting his tongue. Rey envisioned maybe a forked-tongue, like a snake. Then both parts of his tongue shifted, independently of each other. It was only the morning of her second day at the zoo. Ben tugged harder at her sleeve, so she released his face. 

Rey tried to process how she felt about Ben having two tongues. It was kind of gross, but also neat. She wondered what Big Ben could _do_ with two tongues. Ben gripped the hem of her shirt, drawing Rey’s thoughts back to the present. He hovered low in front of her, his face the picture of intent; Rey thought he was looking at the Porg. She found this _painfully_ adorable. Did he _know_ that he lived in a zoo? Did Ben want clothes, too? Had he ever _seen_ a Porg, or just slithered around the zoo? 

“You like my shirt, Ben?” she cooed. Perhaps the tone of her voice or touching his mouth encouraged him; he raised his darkened eyes at her. _He has a very thoughtful face_ , Rey imagined. If he could just have a haircut, or a sweater, he would probably be an actor or a Philosophy Major. Rey would probably suck his dick and think about marrying him. Then he yanked up her shirt. 

“ _What the_ —!” Rey was so shocked, that she dropped the rest of the perfectly good, uneaten banana. She flailed her arms, trying to hit Ben, but he pulled the shirt down over her face and then up over her arms. _The children!_ Rey thought of the poor children visiting the reptile house. She grew _desperate_.

The fight could’ve lasted only a few seconds, but to Rey each second felt like one more innocent bystander seeing her chest. While Rey screamed at him, Ben’s facial expression stayed unchanged, from the moment he gripped the hem to the second he released it. Rey cried out in triumph, and clutched her prize to her breast. Then she looked up at Ben in his perch in his tall tree. Without hesitation, she drew herself up and _hissed_ at him through gritted teeth. Big Ben’s eyes flashed. Shaken, and disturbed with what she’d just done, Rey slithered away from the tree cover. She just hoped that Ben had learned his lesson.

.

Rey had no more patience for anyone for the rest of the day. Ben had betrayed her trust, and small children kept running up to the Reptile House window to point at her chest. She knew that they were looking at the Porg, but Rey was still tired. Tired of everything.

She was so busy trying to ignore the gawking children, that it took her a moment to notice the _especially_ insistent knocking on the window. Rey narrowed her eyes in annoyance; she had just found the sunniest spot on the ground. To make herself feel better, she had hoped on taking a nice, warm snooze, but these humans would _not_ leave her alone... Tentatively, she raised her head and peered through the window. The people on the other side waved at her. This was common in small children, but these were too tall to be children. When her eyes adjusted to the insides of the window, she recognized their faces in an instant, but she just couldn’t process seeing them from inside of a zoo exhibit. Inside the Reptile House, Rose jumped up and down, waving furiously, and Finn smacked his fist on the glass.

“HEY!” Rey screamed, before waving back. She slithered clumsily towards the window and smacked face-first against the glass. “ _Ow_!” Rey rubbed her face, her spirits still soaring. The she pressed her hands on the glass, and Rose and Finn did the same. Rey looked between their excited faces. Finn and Rose's mouths were moving. "What?" Rey shook her head and said, "I can't hear you; go to the staff entrance!" Rose said something to Finn which Rey couldn't catch. Rey backed away from the window, and gestured towards the staff entrance of her enclosure. Rose and Finn’s mouths moved and muffled sounds came out. “ _Go_!” Rey cried. "The staff entrance! It's back there!" 

Rey pointed at her ears. “I can’t hear you! Go to the - the staff...” Inside the Reptile House, two guards in black uniforms appeared in the background, and Finn turned around. He stopped knocking on the glass. Rose spun around indignantly; Rey couldn’t hear what she was saying, but the guards didn’t look any happier. “ _They’re my friends!_ ” Rey wailed. 

For the next hour, Rey stared out of the window, willing her friends to materialize again. Finn should not have knocked on the glass, but Rose could get intense when it came to animal rights. Rey could imagine them getting kicked out of the Reptile House, but surely there wouldn’t be a ban in place. Rey wondered if she was allowed to make a phone call.

Rey wondered exactly what would hav happened if she tried to leave out of the staff entrance. The idea sorely tempted her yesterday; she probably would’ve been gone by now, had it not been for _Big Ben_. For an hour, he acted like at any moment, a bigger zookeeper was going to walk out of the reptile house and fight him. By the time Rey could slither out of his grasp, the sun had set, which meant the zoo had already closed for the day. 

Rey decided that she was going to ask the lunch zookeeper to let her out, so that she could call Finn and Rose. Just because she was placed in a zoo did not mean that they thought that she was an animal. This was only a temporary stay; those doctors were still diligently searching for a cure for her. These things could be talked over. There was no need for the hissing and the fear.

.

Late in the afternoon, a new zookeeper appeared before the wire door. This one was different from the last ones; he was taller, and older. He wore a green polo shirt and cargo shorts, with hiking boots. He took the padlock in-hand and unlocked it with ease, before pushing the door open. His icy blue eyes swept across the enclosure, before focusing on Rey. He was attractive.

Rey swept her hands self-consciously through her hair. She probably looked _hideous_ right now, without just a touch of makeup. Then again, even with makeup, there was the matter of being a hideous monster.

“Hello,” Rey chirped. 

The man walked into the enclosure, steering away from her, but without taking his eyes off her. Unlike Ben, he had blonde hair, cropped close to his scalp. “Good afternoon,” he said, nodding. He placed his hands on his waist, staring at her.

It didn’t feel like this man was going to take her orders for lunch. “My name is Rey,” she said. “Um. I’ve been... I think I’ve been put here by mistake.”

“Hmm.”

“You see — the hospital, the doctors, they sent me here because of this,” she gestured to her snake body. “I wasn’t born like this,” she clarified, but then she said, “Nobody should live like this,” because it was true. “I’m not an animal; I’m just sick. This is temporary.”

“I see,” he said.

“I think the doctors are still looking for a cure, and the zoo researchers...” Her voice trailed off. The way that this man stared at her made her skin crawl.

His jaw tightened, and he crossed his arms over his chest. His lips opened, and when he spoke, his words came out low and muffled: “They were right about one thing; you are a _beaut_.”

It took a second for the moment to register, but when it did, she could feel her skin turn crimson.

“ _Gorgeous_ ,” he muttered, before bending his knees and crouching down.

“Um...” Rey crossed her arms over her chest, feeling self-conscious. 

“This is _precisely_ the wrong habitat for you,” he noted. “You have a _streamlined_ shape; they tell me you spent most of your first day on the ground, but it’s not like you can climb a tree...”

“I can climb a _tree_ ,” Rey muttered defensively. 

“... your scaling isn’t meant for that,” he concluded. “The male’s are _keeled_ , whereas you’re more _delicately_ built. Your underbelly—.”

Rey flipped the rest of her snake body to the ground, careful to hide her underbelly. She never thought about hiding it before, but the way this man _looked_ at her, and _talked_ at her, made her feel _indecent_.

“You probably should’ve been sent to an _aquarium_ rather than a zoo,” he noted. “It’s a wonder that the male hasn’t _fucked_ or _killed_ you yet.”

“ _Excuse you_ ,” she cried, thrusting her hands down. Electricity crackled down her back and made her rigid with fury. Since her transformation, Ben was the only person to treat her civilly, or as civilly as he knew how. If she were to regain human legs tomorrow, it wouldn’t change the fact that Ben deserved much more than a warm tree. Branches shook and crackled behind her, but that was the least of her concern. “Ben isn’t a _monster_ , and he’s not an _animal_ ,” she insisted. “ _I_ don’t belong in an aquarium, and _Ben_ doesn’t belong in a zoo.”

The man stood up and turned towards the staff door. 

“ _Wait_ ,” she cried, but he didn’t turn around. As quickly as possible, she dragged herself after him. She didn’t want to be sent to an aquarium. Just as he closed the door behind him, Rey crashed into it. Alarm flickered in his face.

Rey stared into his icy blue eyes through the space in the wires. “I’m not an animal,” she insisted. “I am _not_ going to an aquarium, and if you try to send me there, I’ll - I’ll _sue_!” Her fingers curled desperately through the fencing. 

His Adam’s apple bobbed, and his chin trembled. Rey heard a furious, incensed hissing sound behind her, but Ben wasn’t her concern at the moment. 

“If you people could just _listen to me_ , you’ll know that I’m _human_ ,” she sobbed. “You could’ve put me in a hotel room, or...” Her voice trailed off. She wasn’t even sure if the man was listening; his eyes drifted into space, and his jaw went slack. _Typical male_ , she thought, irritated. “Look, _please_ let me out. I just want to make a call. My friends tried to visit me today and I’d like to know if they’re okay.”

To her surprise, the man slowly backed away from the wire door. Rey placed her hands on the metal hand bar, and was able to push her way inside. “Let you out,” he muttered.

She was dumbstruck by surprise. “Y-yes! Thank you!” 

Without a word, the zookeeper walked towards the reptile house.

As Rey slipped inside of the staff entrance, she felt the grass beneath her give way to pavement. It felt _different_ , beneath her scaled body. She looked behind her, and saw Ben peering at her from the doorway; he had to duck to fit underneath. For the first time, he looked up at the walls that surrounded the outside of his enclosure, the concrete that hemmed in his precious trees, his entire world. For a second, she wondered if maybe he should stay behind. 

He wasn’t an animal, but he was _wild_. Outside of these walls, there was tarmac and concrete, and income taxes. The outside world could be a scary place if you didn’t know what was out there. For the first year after Poe Dameron brought home BB, the poor dog lived under a dining table and shook.

No; Rey shook away the thought. He deserved the choice of being free. If things went bad, he could always return to the zoo... but Rey would stay beside him, in the meantime. “Ben, c’mon,” she urged him gently. He looked at her, his eyes dark and wide. The corridor was narrow compared to the rest of his body, and he placed his hands on the wire fence as he slithered after her. “Just stay behind me, okay?” she said, as he linked his hand in hers. “We’re going to be free, soon.”

The tall zookeeper pulled open the door to the reptile house and muttered _Let you out_ beneath his breath. “What took you so long, JB?” someone inside asked. Rey caught the door behind him and took a deep breath.

“Hello,” she said brightly, as she peered inside. It was a large and spartan room, meant for the processing of reptiles. There were tanks of all sizes and a large metal table, and what looked like a large scale on the floor for weighing the bigger lizards. A pair of large, metal doors with round viewing windows took up the back wall. That was where they wheeled in Rey from the parking lot.

Asides from Mr. JB, there were two other men in the room who were holding a card game on one of the tables. None of them moved, except for one who opened his mouth, and cried “ _Phasma!?_ ” in a cracking voice. “ _James_?”

Rey gathered her courage and began to tell the two-day epic that she just told Mr. JB: beginning with her mistaken imprisonment in The Palpatine Reptile House, adding her friends’ failed attempt to visit, and ending with how she would like to make a phone call. Just then, Rey saw a face through one of the doors in the back. The doors swung open, revealing the tallest woman that Rey had ever seen. She had a shock of pure white hair, and she wore the same uniform of Mr. JB. In her hands was a long-barreled gun.

The woman scowled ferociously at the other zookeepers, before slowly dropping to one knee. “ _Don’t_ make eye contact with the female,” she snarled. “What have you idiots done _now_?” 

“It was all _James_ ’ idea,” brayed one of the zookeepers. “Look at him; _he’s just standing there._ ” The woman cursed, before raising the sights of the gun to her eye — with _Rey_ at the end of the barrel.

“ _Wait_ ,” Rey croaked. This was going bad, _very_ fast. As she raised her hands, she risked a glance at Mr. JB — ‘ _James_ ’. The man stood to the side, staring listlessly into thin air; he could’ve been watching an advertisement on tv. Sweat broke out on Rey’s brow, and her mouth went dry. 

Just then, she felt a hand flatten on the small of her back. Rey turned her head, thinking to herself, _Don’t worry, Ben, it’s going to be okay_. But just as she met his golden eyes, something _stabbed_ into the side of her neck. She screamed.

Noise exploded outwards, and then everywhere there were men screaming. Rey sank to the ground, her head too heavy for her to bear. Her fingers detached some hard object from her neck and it clattered to the ground, but her eyes swam before she could make out just what it was. The door hit her scaled body, hurting her; slowly, she dragged herself inside, on the cold, hard floor, past JB’s legs. She found a dark spot behind a table. At this moment, she wished that she were back outside, in the warmth and light of the sun, feeling the soft leaves crunch beneath her.

Perhaps a minute or an hour later, she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder, and she opened her eyes. _His_ face wavered before her, only his lips were blood red, and his eyes were soft. He smoothed his palm over her forehead, his skin perfectly cool to the touch. Rey would’ve mistaken this for affection, until he lowered his head. Two pinpricks plunged into the skin on her neck. 

At first this _betrayal_ was all that Rey could bear, but then her spine went rigid, and her body convulsed. Venom coursed into her bloodstream. 

_Oh, he’s poisonous after all,_ was her first thought. Her second thought was, _He’s going to eat me_. Big Ben’s chest began to rumble pleasantly, and he slipped his hands inside her shirt to rub her body up and down. That skin-on-skin friction produced that much sought-after _heat_. This was a gentle cannibalism, Rey thought.


	3. Ben the Snake and Rey the Human

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I needed thisss chapter for essscalation plsss
> 
> (On Rey it would take a few doses for Kylo's love venom to take effect) >:33

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

Stranded, the lost princess, _Reynalina Palpatine_ , trains fervently in the way of the Force on a wild forest planet. She is strong, but her time is running out. Each moment brings the sinister FIRST ORDER closer to discovering her location, and destroying the only hope of General Leia Organa’s brave RESISTANCE. If Rey hopes to defeat the Supreme Leader, she must conquer this planet’s simple _beasts_...

Rey ran through the forest, her long and slender legs as quick as a doe’s. A hideous, purple tentacle monster pursued her, like the one that attacked her and Finn on the Millennium Falcon. But this time, Rey was ready. Swiftly, Rey ran towards a tree... and up its trunk. Once she was high enough, she leapt, and did an effortless backflip — as she sliced down through the horrible tentacle monster, with her lightsaber.

Both halves of the horrible tentacle monster thrashed and screeched, and it shot out a lot of guts. But Rey knew without using the Force that it was already dead, so she darted away.

Slowly, Rey extended her consciousness out to the tall trees. _It’s okay; you’re safe now_ , she thought to them. Slowly, those flat faces, and round eyes peeked out from behind tree trunks. The Porgs. But she sensed a roiling wave of trepidation among her forest friends. They were still frightened of something.

There were many things that could scare an innocent, adorable little Porg. Almost everything on this planet ate them. Chewbacca did say that they tasted like chicken. 

Rey closed her eyes and searched through the Force, looking for this creature. The Porgs, the insects, the rocks, the trees, the water in the soil — all of these Rey felt and identified. Yet, there was a tensity to these things, as if the planet itself held its breath. A slow pulse of the Force drew her attention. She could not see nor sense what the source was, but as the disturbance washed over her, her nerve endings tensed and alighted between pleasure and pain. It was... _teasing_ her. It was _calling_ to her. When she opened her eyes, particles of darkness receded from the edges of her vision. Rey felt a shudder down her back. This predator was _different_. 

Rey stalked cautiously through the forest, sensing her direction through the Force. She knew that this could be a trap, yet she wished to know if The First Order had already discovered her location. She wished to know if her meager training was all for naught.

Rey followed the source of the pulse in the Force to a small clearing in the forest, littered with leaves. An ominous wind rippled through the forest. Rey drew her lightsaber. “ _Where are you?_ ” she cried bravely. For her friends and for the peace of the galaxy, she would gladly and selflessly face any adversary...

Suddenly, a _pressure_ surrounded her from all sides. Her lightsaber dropped to the ground. Woodenly, her back straightened, and her arms fell to her sides. A cold fear sank into the pit of her stomach; in mere seconds she had been immobilized, and she hadn’t even _seen_ the creature. An invisible hand tilted her face upwards.

Her eyes scrolled upwards, to a thick branch with a growth coiled around it. Her vision doubled and undoubled; she couldn’t be sure of what she was seeing. The dark growth on the tree shifted, like a long, sinuous body. Its surface glistened like countless scales. Rey shuddered inwardly, her horror mounting. 

“ _I sense your fear, little one_ ,” hissed a mechanical voice.

Darkness. Death and darkness. Armor-plating covered his broad chest, and his arms. His helmet echoed the form of his predecessor’s, _Darth Vader_. Gracefully, he lowered himself from the branch.

Rey’s mouth was allowed to move. “Only a _Sith_ would lay such a _trap_ ,” she growled. “ _Release me_.”

“Oh, you _knew_ what you were searching for,” he said patiently. His body unspooled from the tree and encircled Rey, slowly. The sheer length of him astonished her. “This is _my_ home, and _you_ are _my_ _guest_. You sought to _tease_ me, and now that I’ve caught you, you wish to renege.”

Embarrassment flushed her face. “I did not _tease_ you. I was not even _aware_ of you...”

“Because you think that I am a simple _beast_ ,” he said, “a _monster_.” He leaned over her, so that only a breath of space separated her face from that dark helmet. Rey could not lean away. 

“I don’t,” she said weakly, “think that you’re a monster,” _Ben_. 

“... I am,” he said. “ _I_ know what I am. You’re the one in denial, Rey.” She struggled to avoid his meaning.“You persist in _denying_ yourself.”

“...No,” she said.

He raised a hand to her face. The word, _Jakku_ , flew into the forefront of her head, and then desert, the scorching heat. The air so thick, that the horizon wavered as if she were stuck inside an oven. Her breath shortened, and sweat pooled inside her collarbone.

“ _Yes_ ,” he cooed softly. “I see it: a little _egg_ tucked beneath the hot sand.” His tone was wistful, and as he said so, he reached up and tucked a strand of her hair over her ear. 

_“No_ —“ _I’m human_. She was a princess and a Jedi. Her parents sent her away so that she would be _safe._

“I see your parents,” he said suddenly. “Dead. _Skinned_. _Rotting_ in some collector’s _vault_.”

“No!” she cried shrilly. “You’re _wrong_!”

“You are _more_ than you know, but you need a _teacher_.” His voice was urgent, almost pleading. “You're so lonely... So afraid of what the next day will bring... Desperate to sleep, you imagine waking up, _changed_. _‘Fixed’_.” He cupped her wet cheek. “The humans will disappoint you.”

“No... _no_!” 

She blinked rapidly, as if shaking off a strange dream. She twisted her jaw out of his grasp. “I will _never_ follow you,” Rey hissed. “I will _never_ go to the _Dark side_!” She forcefully turned away from his visor, unleashing a flood of images and sensations. A woman’s face. Men. A rolling, vast ocean. Needles, drugged sleep, pliers, _fear_. _K_ —.

* * *

_What a weird dream_...

Rey stared at the pretty pink shapes that shimmered above her head. If she unfocused her eyes, she could make them dance...

It was the morning light coming from between the leaves of the forest canopy. The sound of distant fans circulated warmed air around the enclosure. And unless this was all one giant dream-within-a-dream, like the movie _Inception_ , with celebrities making guest appearances left and right, then she was still stuck inside the zoo.

Rey heaved a slow sigh, and felt something warm shift against her chest. She glanced down to see a dark head of hair, pooled below her chin.

“! _Hey_!” Rey pushed his head away and tried to slither away. Her back hit the hard trunk of the tree they were in, and she looked down. A wave of vertigo washed over her. The ground shifted beneath the roots of the tree like a living thing. Her neck pulsed nauseatingly in time with her heartbeat. Just then, a thick, pale arm caught her shoulder, steadying her. Her heart fluttered rapidly before she brushed him off.

“Don’t touch me!” she cried. She looked into his dark, innocent eyes, and those kissable lips that were just nestled between her breasts a second ago. Self-consciously, she slipped a hand over her chest, because her shirt was gone. “No!” she cried sternly. “I’m _mad_ at you, Kylo! You _bit_ me and now I’m in a _tree_ and I don’t have _clothes_!”

His brow steepled sympathetically. He tried to touch her again, but she hissed at him.

Rey placed her hand on the trunk and looked down, dubiously. She couldn’t stay in this tree, but she didn’t know how to get down except for the _short_ way. Kylo dragged her up here while she was unconscious, so she was already just loosely hanging off the branch, like a jump rope thrown into a tree. She inched herself forward, and before she could have any second thoughts, gravity pulled her off the branch. Rey screamed. 

“Oh _fuck_!” she cried, from the ground. God, it was _tough_ being a snake. Rey would not wish it on her worst enemy. She pushed her back from off the ground and rubbed her sore elbows. Besides her, Kylo landed, with a much less eventful _thump_. Rey was grateful when he disappeared; she slithered alone to her safe ground-level nest, and curled up inside of it. 

There was a place for her to hide away from the window. At the back of the enclosure, there was a tree that grew just adjacent to the concrete wall, and it leaned inwards. Beneath it was a divot in the earth which Rey could fit herself in comfortably. It was even within viewing distance of the staff door, which they forgot to padlock again... The only problem was that the shade from the trees blocked the sunlight, so she felt a little cold. But she didn’t care. She just wanted to hide away...

She was so cold... So hungry... Her friends got kicked out of the zoo... She _might_ have freaky mind-control powers... The zookeepers shot her with a tranq dart... Kylo bit her... She fell out of a tree... and now, she had no shirt... Nobody loved her...

Something slithered across the leaves. Rey sniffled miserably and caught the scent of meat, and some second, distinct, **MALE** musk. Her mouth watered, and her stomach formed a tight, needy ball. A hand touched her back, then kneaded between her shoulder blades.

Rey crossed her arms to hide her face and hissed into the dirt. The petting stopped. She heard a sound from him, and then a sudden _warm_ feeling. Weird. She wasn’t feeling too great today, but there was this warm, _bright_ feeling coming from Kylo’s general direction. Maybe she could smell it? Maybe it was _another_ weird, mutant power? 

Also, since when did she start thinking of him as ‘ _Kylo’_? That was the name of the hot Sith in her Star Wars dream. She could still think of him as _Ben_ , but it felt weird. Now ‘Ben’ felt like his stage name, or ‘ _Big_ Ben’ if he were some sort of Chippendales dancer. Again, _weird_. Maybe she was going crazy

A weight spread out over her coiled body. Before she could realize what was happening and think to escape, Kylo had already slithered on top of her. His forearms crossed over her back, flattening her into the soft earth. Rey hissed spiritedly at this turn of events, but that was about all that she could do. Kylo was a lot bigger than her, and heavier. Rey could not even flip over.

“Do I _look_ like a _chair?_ ” she wailed. “ _Get off me_ , _Kylo!_ ”

She could see his smug face in her peripheral. Rey wondered if he was gradually working up the nerve to eat her, hence the escalation to _biting_. Survival of the fittest at work.

His hand drifted down to eye level. Something dark and wet sat in his palm; it smelled a lot better than it looked. Rey’s mouth watered, despite herself. She didn’t eat _raw meat_. She couldn’t. Things like that made you _sick_. The last time she ate questionable meat was when the only thing in Plutt’s fridge was an open pack of salami, and she spent the rest of _that_ day hugging the toilet. Any minute now, a zookeeper was going to run through the Reptile House door and throw a bunch of bananas at her, and hopefully Kylo would be pissed enough to slither off of her in order to fight the zookeeper.

Something wet ran along her shoulder, and when she turned her head, she could see him lean away. His double-tongue flicked out of his pink mouth. He was already going for a nibble. “ _Hey_ —.” Rey opened her mouth to yell at him, when his hand clamped over her mouth. 

It was food. It was good delicious food in her mouth and Rey was hungry. At least that’s what she told herself when she compulsively swallowed. When Kylo offered another morsel, she lapped it politely out of the palm of his hand. His body did the _thing_ again, the _rumbling_ , on top of her, which made Rey feel good all over. Well. A little protein wasn’t bad for her, and she had eaten worse things before.

What day was it? Wouldn’t she have had to work today?

Well whatever. She would get out eventually, one of these days.


	4. A Perfectly Routine Checkup

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I needed thisss as a transssitional chapter lol :s~~

For the next few days, there was peace and respite in the Reptile House. It was almost _too_ peaceful, in fact. Rey was wondering if she was not a little sick.

The fact remained that after the ‘incident’, something had changed. Perhaps it was the stress of being shot with a tranq dart and then being bitten by a frightened snake-man, but her mind felt sluggish, as if her brainstuff were steaming inside her skull. Her biggest concern now was to stay very warm and very still without anybody disturbing her, a job which Kylo took on splendidly. Her initial irritation faded away and was completely forgotten after lunch and a long nap beneath him.

At night, she would snap awake with a start, and realize that her warmth was gone. She would sit up in a cold sweat, struck with fear that he had abandoned her, that she had been abandoned again by someone she loved. Then leaf litter would crackle in her ears and she would know that Kylo hadn’t left her and that she was safe. After that instant shock of sweet relief, restlessness would flash in her bloodstream from spending the entire day asleep. She would race away from him or pretend he disgusted her or attempt to climb a tree, knowing deep in her bones that Kylo would be compelled to hunt her. The strangest thing was that she could feel his consternation prickling at the back of her own scalp, then his elation when he finally wrapped himself around her, twisting and wrestling his prize into submission. It was hard, bodily work, but it was fun, and she would be tired the day after. Only, it was not fun and games to Kylo.

Circles grew beneath his eyes and his cheeks hollowed out. His skin tightened around his ribcage and his took on a dull pallor. In the day. Rey flipped herself onto her back and smoothed her hands through his hair and over his shoulder-blades. She nearly cried out upon feeling the ridges of his ribs.

Kylo’s hollow eyes flickered to the window. Another change: he wasn’t too shy before the incident, but now he hated to even spare a glimpse of her to the insides of the Reptile House. Rey wondered why he wasn’t eating, or sleeping, and if something was wrong with him. At the thought of her friend being sick, she felt a wave of panic. Not Kylo. She didn’t think she could handle losing Kylo.

“What’s wrong with you?” she asked him in hushed tones. “Are you sick?” His eyes rolled upwards, and his mouth fell open as Rey smoothed his long hair over his ears. He pushed himself into her palm, closing his eyes. Rey wondered how starved for touch he was for all these years, alone. She knew he would hate it, but she needed to talk to the zookeepers, to get some help for him. Her trust in them was quickly thinning, but she was willing to push that aside if they could help her dear friend.

Little did she know, the Reptile House had plans set in motion for the both of them.

.

The day began with a white curtain draped over the other side of the window. Rey watched as two zookeepers set it up in the morning, wondering what event could be happening today.

A commotion started from behind the wire door; Rey heard the march of a troop of zookeepers and felt their weight through the vibrations that ran along her body. Kylo tensed up and turned his head towards the staff entrance, anticipating something. He hunched over her, trying to shield her with her body.

The barrel of a rifle pushed through an opening in the wire door, and in a split-second, Kylo was thrown backwards, twisting and writhing in agony. Rey screamed, and as his own anguish washed over her in waves, she tried to pull herself out from under his lashing body. She screamed his name and raised her hands, trying to calm him down. Then she was hit, too.

Her head grew too heavy, and her heartbeat slowed to a crawl. At the back of her mind, her feeling-brain surged with panic, fed by the backwash of Kylo’s enraged helplessness. The humans were attacking them, again. Rey was the smaller reptile, and the dosage of tranquilizer was adjusted to the male, so she was the first to hit the ground. Kylo took a little longer, holding himself upright with his arms, before draping himself over her with the last of his strength. His chin came to rest on her shoulder. Beneath his weight, she could feel his anger transform to hot terror. The padlock clicked open, and the zookeepers invaded their home.

Phasma barked orders with the staccato of an army commando: “You two, take his arms and drag the male off. Then you two will _take_ the female, and do _not_ make eye contact. _Blindfold_!” The dead weight of her friend lifted from her back, before a cloth slipped over her eyes. Rey cried out for him from her head as she was hoisted from the ground by her arms and piled onto a cold, metal platform. As she was carted away, her hand fell from the platform and her fingers scraped the dirt and then the hard concrete. Only at the doorway did somebody kick her hand back onto the cart.

 _They’re taking him away!_ Her greatest fear rattled inside of her like a silent shriek; in her heart, she could _feel_ that this was true. As the cart was pushed away, a tear stretched open inside of her chest. Tears welled up in her eyes and dotted the blindfold. At this moment, she remembered the end of her dream, with pliers and needles, and she began to weep in earnest.

If they could have spared her a word or an explanation, if they could have done without the blindfold or the tranquilizers, Rey would have gladly stepped onto the large reptile scale, and laid herself flat for a proper tape measurement. She would have gladly accepted the blood samples; these would have helped sustain the hope and illusion that a lab somewhere was researching her condition and finding cure for her. Instead, she was laid out on cold, hard surfaces while two or three zoo-lab technicians talked over her, reading out numbers. They pulled open her mouth. “ _One_ tongue,” one of them noted, and the other laughed just as a cotton swab rammed deep down her throat. “Cute _tits_ , too. JB forgot to mention that.”

Her fear spiked as one of them gripped her arm and slammed a needle into the inside of her elbow. Without the presence of Kylo at the back of her mind, Rey was utterly alone.

With military precision, they clipped her fingernails to the quick and cut her hair to a length that left her neck bare.

“ _This_ should do the trick.” A hand patted her wrist. “Big Ben should be writing us a _thank-you_ letter by the end of the year.”

With this warm send-off, Rey was carted away and deposited into a cold, dark holding cell. It would be hours later before she could find the strength to curl into a ball. The blindfold, now stiff with dried tears, lifted off her face.

“ _Kylo_?” She’d never thought about his name before, the one she made up in a dream—. _No_ , the one that he _gave_ to her in her dreams. Rey padded her hands along the concrete walls. Warm air hissed inside from an opening in the wall, somewhere along the ground. It smelled sweet and the interior of the cell was bedded with soft clean sand, but she lowered her head to the floor to try to peer through the grate. “ _Kylo?_ ”

Inside of Rey stretched a shrieking void, and she would have cried if she had any tears left. Only one other time in her life did she feel more miserable. She wanted Kylo, or Big Ben, or whatever name that the humans or his mother or he gave himself.


	5. We Ain't Nothing But (Reptiles)

Noises pricked her hearing. From the other side of the door, a woman issued sharp orders. It was the tall, blonde-haired zookeeper, named Phasma. Rey had loosely coiled herself in the corner of the pen, her snake body acting as a bed against the hard, sandy floor. When she heard that voice once more, her lip peeled upward, and every muscle in her body tensed. A new muscle in her jaw contracted; in her aggrieved state, she failed to notice the new fangs that distended from the roof of her mouth.

Muddled thoughts about what she would _do_ to _Phasma_ rattled around her head. To all of them, to every single bloody zookeeper, but especially _Phasma_. Rey had never been a pacifist before, but she had always thought herself above pettiness and vengefulness. That is, until now. 

The door in the holding pen swung open, bathing the floor in light. From that door there came two zookeepers wielding rifles, their faces obscured by strange headgear. Rey stared at them for a moment, baffled. The two wore what looked like tinted plastic screens over their terrified faces, as if she were a spitting cobra. 

Just as Rey considered locking eyes with one, a voice cracked the air: “ _Don’t you try anything_.” Phasma sauntered into the doorway, a rifle slung under her arm.

A hiss lodged halfway in Rey’s throat. Her shoulders tensed, and her body coiled beneath her, as if she could spring onto the woman. At the moment, Rey felt as if she were capable of anything. 

Casually, Phasma hefted the rifle, so that the barrel waved in the air. “In less than a week, you’ve inflicted enough injury to my staff, that my superiors have granted me the use of live rounds. Above all else, I must put the safety of my men first,” she said, in noble tones.

Rey could have laughed, but she kept her expression neutral. She felt a prickling along the back of her mind, and knew that something waited for her just out of that doorway. Something incredibly, terribly important. 

“ _Do_ you understand me?” broke in Phasma, in an appraising voice. She cocked her head. “I was under the impression that you could _speak_ , unless you’ve lost that ability?”

It dawned on Rey that she was being mocked. She coiled herself tightly. A vault of pent-up anger seethed inside of the hollow of her chest, that it was all she could do _not_ to spring on the woman. “ _Yes_ ,” she hissed. 

Phasma smiled down at her, confident in her place as the apex predator. “ _Again_. If you give me reason to fear for the safety of my men,” she said primly, “ _you_ will be put down, and I’m going to make a belt of your skin.”

Rey said nothing. With each passing second, her patience shed thinner. Phasma stepped aside and let a wheeled cart push awkwardly though the doorway. It was the massive form, lying spooled on the cart, that squeezed her heart into a tight fist. Her brittle anger shattered to pieces, and tears threatened to spill from her eyes. She stopped just short of calling his name, _Kylo_. His name wasn’t for _their_ ears.

There was a tarp underneath him; four zookeepers couldn’t lift him. Somehow, Rey could sense their collective panic, like trapped livestock. At last, Phasma barked at one of the riflemen to help. Unceremoniously, they slid him onto the floor beside the cart, before beating a hasty retreat out of the pen. The door slammed shut behind them, and the bolts thudded into place.

It should have been completely dark inside the pen, but when that door closed, a light remained — from Kylo. He laid on his side, his hair obscuring his face, but his skin appeared to glow. The light burned brightest from his human half, and then it tapered into a red tone over the rest of his body. Rey shivered, imagining what it would be like to tangle herself with him. 

She reached out a hand and placed it over his bicep, shaking him lightly. His skin burned as hot as a furnace; she ran her fingers over his brow, smoothing his hair from his eyes. His face glowed, too, and it burned like a pale fire. He shuddered, and drew a sharp breath. His eyes moved beneath their lids, but they wouldn’t open. The skin beneath his eyes was marked with what looked like ash, which she couldn’t rub away. Rey wondered if he was having a nightmare, or if he had a fever, or if he would get sick and die and leave her alone at the zoo for the rest of her miserable life. 

Rey hooked a hand underneath his armpit, and dragged him back to the corner of the pen. The concrete walls chafed against her shoulder blades. Kylo’s head lolled between her breasts, keeping her ribs and her tummy pleasantly warm. Rey wondered if maybe that was his... ‘snake-power’, or something. She had weird mind-control powers; and he could get really hot, and climb trees, and glow in the dark. If they had babies, those babies would be incredibly talented.

A sudden, morbid thought occurred to her: _Can I lay eggs?_ she wondered. 

Kylo began to stir, forcing Rey to push aside those thoughts about eggs and babies. He turned his head, so that the tip of his nose grazed the inside of her arm. He drew a sharp breath, paused, and then nuzzled her skin. The lower half of his body shivered and undulated, forming a series of S’s. It was cute at first, until Rey felt the wetness of his tongues and decided she had better put a stop this; for all she knew, he could be dreaming about a delicious steak. She let her arm fall away slowly, only for him to grab her by the wrist. 

_Oh shit_ , she thought, growing cold with terror. “ _Kylo, wake up_ ,” she hissed urgently. “ _I’m not food!_ ”

His brow knitted together, probably in disbelief. His eyelids flicked open, and he tilted his head up to look at her. His irises glowed such a pure, golden color, like the setting sun. Broken blood vessels reached out from the corners of his eyes. She was so transfixed, that she didn’t notice him raise his head off of her, until he grasped her hand in his. 

Baffled, she tore her eyes away from him, trying to look anyplace else. She tugged lightly at her hand, only for Kylo‘s hold on her to tighten. Rey pretended to see something interesting on the floor behind Kylo, ignoring the twelve-foot-long elephant that had her backed into the corner of the room. 

Rey swallowed nervously and said _I hope they’re going to feed us soon._ This was not only small talk, but a genuine concern regarding her friend’s appearance and behavior. Rey extended her consciousness towards him, and felt a sharp _pulse_ that made her flinch. As the disturbance washed over her in waves, her nerve endings tensed and alighted between pleasure and pain. Rey shuddered, and her shoulder blades scraped the wall behind her; a thumb traced her pulse point.

Somethin inside of her appeared to respond to the call. An unidentified _yearning_ coiled inside of her, like hunger, but for what she did not know. Rey felt as if she had opened Pandora’s box; once she opened the channel, she couldn’t close it off again.

She peeled open her eyes, particles of darkness hovering at the edges of her vision. There was only Kylo now. Rey tasted the gauzy, sweet insides of her mouth, “ _Wh_...” _What did you do to me?_ she meant to ask. But he didn’t answer; instead, he brought her hand to his lips, and carefully tucked her fingers into his mouth. His sharp teeth grazed the skin.

Inwardly, she knew that Kylo had shared his _sickness_ with her. It wasn’t animal naïveté, but something deliberate, something he _chose_ to do. She could feel his pleasure coursing up her body as he gently pricked her fingers, dosing her with his venom. If the betrayal wasn’t enough, he wanted to _toy_ with her, his _prey_.

A low rumble began in his chest. His long, sinuous body stirred to life over hers, moving as if to flatten her. At last, Rey summoned enough resistance to yank her fingers out of his mouth. She placed her hands on the walls and wrestled him, hissing in contempt. Rey was slippery, but he was stronger and heavier. He merely braced his arms on either side of her, breathing steadily through his nose, until his sharp, keeled scales dug into her body. A white hot terror sliced through the fog in her brain. Though they were both monsters, he was the superior one; survival of the fittest and all that. A coppery scent filled her senses: blood. Her own. 

The scent rippled through their connection; shockwaves of _excitement_ that made her nauseous. He rose over her, with hooded eyes. Kylo’s heart beat like a war drum; he raised his head and smiled at her. In a hopeless situation, even an animal will freeze up in terror. Rey froze.

Once the animal inside of her was conquered, only the human remained. Only words remained. “ _Kylo_ ,” she said, “ _Kylo, don’t do this_.” She couldn’t even hear herself over the rushing sound in her ears. 

To her surprise, his smile faltered. Encouraged, she raised her hands, forgetting the blood. “I know you’re a _good_ _person_. I know you’ve been alone for a long, long time,” she said. “And I’ll — I’ll _always_ be with you, okay? If you don’t _kill_ me, Kylo.”

Rey had no idea if he could actually understand her, but his slow smile reappeared, his mouth forming a pink curve. A slow, heady warmth spread out from him, and his strange eyes softened. He shifted imperceptibly, his body squeezing hers. “ _Wait_ —.” Rey quailed for a moment, wondering why he could look at her so lovingly and then try to squeeze the life out of her, except to toy with her. If that was his goal all along.

Rey blinked. Through a fog of chemicals natural and man-made, Rey replayed the events of the last few hours, and secondly Kylo’s relationship to her. _There’s no way though_ , she thought, heat rising to her face. 

Alarmed by her sudden lack of resistance, Kylo took her hands and entwined his body with hers — a surprisingly gracefully feat, considering their sizes. Below his waist, between the flare of his hips where his thighs would be, his fitted scales bulged slightly. When this part met her body, he shivered in anticipation. One of his hands slipped beneath her ribs, holding her close, as if they were slow-dancing in one of those old romantic movies. Her breasts rubbed against his hard abdomen, and now Rey shuddered. 

She needed to end this, now. Rey patted his biceps gently, smiling for some inconceivable reason. “Kylo,” she said, “c’mon, _stop it_. I’m not a _snake_.” 

Rey cajoled him gently, not quite believing what her senses reported back to her. Kylo rocking himself against her. Her nipples rubbing on his hard chest, the pressure building up in her long-forgotten core, the smell of his warm body. She shifted her hips to get more comfortable, and felt something wet run down the V of her former-thighs. At that same moment, Kylo released a shuttered breath.

“I’m not really a snake,” she said, her voice condensing against his chest. “Kylo. Any minute, any day now, I’m just — I’m gonna turn back into a human, and then I’m gonna leave — leave the _zoo,_ so—.” She brought her hands up and tried to push him away from her. 

This was all a silly misunderstanding, in her mind. Kylo wasn’t going to _eat_ her, but ultimately, he was a lonely bachelor — a regular _Lonesome George_. Rey sure felt _sorry_ for him, but it’s not like she could have pity sex with him — at least, not in _this_ body. What if she had eggs, or _babies_? Wouldn’t that complicate things? 

Humiliatingly, liquid dribbled down her 'legs' again. She looked down between their bodies, and saw the dual heads of Big Ben’s penis. Rey stared at it, ignorantly. Her mouth opened, and only a small cry came out. 

_There’s no way_ , she thought. _No way that that thing is fitting inside of me!_

Despite her misgivings, it seemed that her awful, hideous body had other plans. A couple of ugly scales had folded back, creating a slick and dripping opening where her cunt would be. Rey had no idea how deep her transformation reached, but she still couldn’t believe she could fit Kylo inside of her. She wasn’t _deep_ enough. 

“ _Kylo, no!_ ” she cried. “ _Stop_! _It’s not going to fit!_ ” Rey smacked at his chest and shoulders, flailing. Now she yelled to get the zookeepers’ attention, to wake up anybody on shift so that they could come in and rescue her. Despite her misgivings, an animal thrill licked down her back; Kylo beamed at her, before tucking his face into her neck. He grabbed her by her scaly ass and impaled her onto on his cocks.

“ _Ah_!” It hurt more than anything else. Kylo wrapped his arms around her tight and pushed her against the wall, preventing any hope of escape. Rey felt as if she were overstuffed. Her hands curled around his neck, seeking purchase.

Kylo drew his hips back slowly, before pushing in. She screamed his name again, mindless. The tip of her body curled and thrashed, fruitlessly. He opened his mouth, and bit down.

“ _Aah!_ ” The pain was there, but it was different. She could feel waves of pleasure and guilt wash over her, and then the wet coolness of his tongue. Rey wondered why she wasn’t dead after all the venom pumped into her, after all these love-bites. 

Now that she was effectively immobilized, Kylo pulled her from the wall and smoothed his hand over her bloody shoulder blades. He coiled around her and pumped into her, on the floor, with slow, drawn-out strokes. The body of the pain ebbed away; each time he slammed inside, Rey cried out in delirious pleasure. She came too shortly after. 

Kylo licked her neck, and then squeezed her breasts in his hands, his curiosity glaring between their bond. He licked each one, thinking about mother’s milk. Even in her state, the thought made her insides curl with horror, and she tossed her head to the side. 

“ _Don’t cum in me_ ,” she whimpered. Her fears spouted out in a muffled run-on sentence: “ _Kylo I can’t have babies; I can’t have babies, Kylo — we live at the zoo!_ ” 

Kylo couldn’t understand, or more likely chose not to understand. With a few thrusts of his hips, he came hot inside of her, regardless. ‘Survival of the fittest.’ Rey turned away from him — horrified, disgusted. But try as she might, she couldn’t pull away from him; his piece locked deep inside of her, and left them tangled in each other. Kylo watched her through half-lidded eyes as she tried to drag herself away from him. When she gave up, he simply wrapped himself around her and pulled her into a warm ball. The order was implicit: _go to sleep_. 

Inwardly, Rey gave an open prayer to anything that would listen her — probably some ancient pagan snake god — to not get her pregnant inside of the Palpatine Reptile House. She was going to be human again... someday. Any day now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i add one or more chapters in case those heroic doctor-scientists ever come up w a cure for Rey 
> 
> or if she lays eggs
> 
> or if Rose and Finn are ever allowed back into the zoo
> 
> ;-;7


End file.
